The Lover's Contempt
by Sidder
Summary: Hitomi hasn't seen Van or Gaea for about 5 months and Yukari brings her to a party because she's sad. At the party, she meets a strange new guy who seems to have a strong, evil energy coming from his body. Does he have something to do with the new war tha


**_Chapter 1_**   
_Preparations_

Hitomi Kanzaki looked down at the report card in her hand. 88% was written across the top beside the word "math." 'You're too good in math, Hitomi!' fussed her friend who was walking beside her, Yukari.   
'C'mon Yukari,' Hitomi smiled at her friend. 'You're better in Japanese than me.'   
'But still, I didn't get 88% in it...'   
The two girls walked down the street towards their homes. Yukari stopped in front of her house, turning toward her friend. 'We've gotta do something really special to mark the end of the school year.'   
'Sure,' replied Hitomi. 'I'll call you tonight?'   
'Nah, I'll call you.'   
'Okay, see ya, then.'   
Hitomi walked the rest of the way to her house by herself. This year is finally over, she thought, 'cause this was a very frustrating end term. She turned into a driveway and up the lane. 'Hello, Hitomi,' called her mother.   
'Hi,' came the reply.   
'Enjoy your last school day before the holidays?'   
'Yeah, although I've got tons of homework still.'   
Mrs Kanzaki poked her head into the hallway Hitomi had entered into and smiled at her daughter. 'You'll do good, you always do.'   
'Thanks, mom.'   
Hitomi lugged her heavy kitbag up to her room and got dressed out of her school uniform, which was all right the rest of the year except the end, when the heat was usually too overwhelming. She changed into shorts and a tank top. Outside, the temperature was reaching almost forty degrees Celsius. Hitomi looked at herself in her bedside mirror. I need a haircut, she thought to herself. The last time I had one was four months ago, the week before I first went to Gaea...   
Thinking of Gaea so suddenly caused Hitomi to stop and sit down. She usually didn't get this emotional, she tried to freeze her emotions so that she wouldn't have to sort through them. She thought she had been doing so well but now it seemed every day that Gaea suddenly popped into her thoughts. Hitomi was always thinking of Van Finale who was King of Finalia, which was a country on Gaea. He was also the one who brought Hitomi to Gaea after killing a land dragon as part of the rite to become a king of his country, while he was in Hitomi's own world.   
'Oh, Van...' Hitomi blinked back sudden tears and tried not to think about that place. After all, when she had gone there for the first time, Finalia was caught up in "The War to End all Wars" that a man by the name of Emperor Dornkirk tried to put into action. Hitomi, along with Allen Shazar, Van, Merle and some of the other people of Gaea who were fighting against the Ziabock Empire, helped restore peace and many lives.   
Although it was at peace now, it brought back too many awful memories of war to her. It also brought back the pain similar to homesickness. Sometimes she thought that Gaea was her true home because that's where all her friends were even if it wasn't her own family.   
Just then, Hitomi heard the phone ring downstairs and her mother answer it. A few seconds later, her mother called to Hitomi saying it was for her.   
'Sure mom, thanks!'   
Hitomi picked up the receiver from its cradle and spoke into the phone. 'Hello?'   
'Hey, Hitomi!' it was Yukari. 'Summer holidays going okay?'   
'They just started,' was the reply. 'What are you doing?'   
'Nothing now, but one of the girls on the track meet telephoned me. She told me a couple of the track girls were planning a party or something and decided they were going to hold a dance at a cottage next week for all the members and their friends. Wanna come?'   
'Where is it?' Hitomi asked.   
'Naoko Mahei's parents' cottage. It's by a lake.'   
'The tall skinny one with dark hair?'   
'Yeah.'   
Hitomi thought for a second. A party would take her mind off Van and Gaea since there was no school work to do to block the longing. 'Sure,' Hitomi said finally. 'What date then?'   
'Next Saturday starting at six-thirty,' Yukari sounded happy. 'Naoko asked me to invite all the track members since I was in charge of all you guys.' She added in proudly.   
'Well, you can count on me being there!' Hitomi smiled.   
'Great!' Yukari said. 'I'll invite all the other girls, we can talk about clothes and where it is and stuff later, 'kay? Talk to ya later?' 'Sure. Bye.'   
'G'bye.'   
Hitomi put the phone back and stretched onto her bed. She smiled up at the ceiling and started to hum to herself. That phone call sure had perked up her spirits. She hadn't gone to any parties or dances since before she ended up in Gaea. So Hitomi lay there, thinking about what next Saturday night could hold for her and her friend. This will be fun... she thought to herself.   
So all week long, Hitomi and Yukari prepared for the up-coming dance. Alone and desolate, their summer homework lay forgotten. Once Hitomi had brought it up but Yukari laughed and told her to lighten up, it was summer. Hitomi agreed, promising not to start any of it until after the dance.   
They bought dresses and thought about the style they would put their hair into. Hitomi decided to put it in a small clip, pinned out of her face. Yukari spent forever deciding what shoes would best match her dress and as soon as she got that all settled, she had trouble with something else.   
'Do these earrings look good, or are they too fancy?'   
'Yukari, relax,' Hitomi had told her, smiling at her friend's sudden interest in her looks. She was naturally like that, unlike Hitomi, but she was worrying a little more than usual. 'Why are you going to through all the extra trouble? What's up?' But Yukari wouldn't say, which made Hitomi a little suspicious of what she really knew about this whole party.   
Soon though, all the little wrinkles were ironed out and they had nothing to do, and they wouldn't even think of touching their homework, not yet. So, the days seemed to stretch after Wednesday as they were all ready, so they started lazing around and going to all the tourist attractions that were already in full swing.   
Not doing anything for a change brought great pleasure and relaxation to the two girls. Hitomi even stopped worrying about Gaea and whether she would see anyone ever again. It just didn't seem to matter, like everything else. She knew that it would come up again, like everything else in her life usually does, but she tried not to let that bother her for the time being.   
So as they sat on Hitomi's bed one day, they got really silly and laughed at everything from Yukari's first date with Amano to the fact that the girl's bathroom was painted bright pink with roses all over it. So when Yukari suddenly turned serious and asked of Hitomi to do something she hadn't in a long while, chills shot up her spine and she stopped laughing almost abruptly.   
'You want me to do a Tarot Card reading?' Hitomi asked.   
Yukari nodded. 'About the dance... I have a weird feeling about it.'   
Hitomi was suddenly struck with panic. Her lips went dry and she licked them absently. Seeing the look of fright on her friend's face, Yukari quickly added, 'I-I don't mean bad, I...' she stopped, thinking about how to say it. 'I just have a feeling that- oh, it's silly...'   
'What?' Hitomi was starting to break out in a cold, clammy sweat.   
Yukari blushed furiously and answered, 'I think Amano will be there...'   
'Amano?' Hitomi blinked, her fear turning into confusion. 'But he's in England!'   
'I know, he left almost four months ago, but....'   
Hitomi stared at her friend, suddenly relieved, she smiled. 'Sure, I wanna know, too. I hope it will be a good reading, I want to have fun.'   
Yukari blushed crimson, yet she smiled back.   
Amano and Yukari had been writing to each other since he left and once she had mentioned to Hitomi that he might come visit for awhile in the summer. So Hitomi walked over and dug her Tarot Cards out from behind her closet door for her friend. She had only done a couple of readings since coming back from Gaea, and since Yukari knew nothing about anything that had happened, she had never understood why her friend suddenly changed. She went on thinking Hitomi had just had an anemic attack on the track and was out for awhile, forgetting all about seeing her friend being beamed to another planet with Amano gazing into the sky beside her.   
It was really strange. Hitomi tried to understand why but when her mother told her a story about her grandmother, she sort of pieced it together. Her theory was that when her grandmother came back, she told stories of it, never forgetting the event, but that was all it was to Hitomi's mother, a story. When it had happened to Hitomi as well, her mother thought that it was like the same story but when Hitomi came back again, everyone sort of forgot all about what had happened. For some reason, Hitomi thought it had something to do with the fact that she left the pendant on Gaea with Van.   
Heading to the bed again, Hitomi sat down in front of Yukari, and started to place the cards in the right pattern, as if she were merely playing solitaire. It had been so long, yet she still knew how to read them. Closing her eyes tightly, Hitomi slowly turned over the first card. Yukari leaned forward for a better look. 'The two of angels. You will be re-united with someone you love.'   
Yukari practically beamed. 'I kinda thought...' she whispered.   
Hitomi flipped the next card over. 'Hmm...'   
'What?'   
'We will meet someone with very dark energy. This could be bad.'   
'And then what?'   
Hitomi flipped over another card. She stood, translating it for awhile. Yukari looked from the cards, meaningless to her, to her friend, concentration etched on her face. After a long pause, Yukari asked, 'Well?'   
'I don't know... but I think it may be something of the past is to repeat itself.'   
'Really? I wonder what...'   
'Well, that's it. Are you satisfied with the reading?'   
'Yes! I can't wait to see Amano again,' Yukari's face went pink at her outburst. 'Although, i-it could be someone else... You know...'   
Hitomi nodded and put the cards away, back behind the closet door. She sat down on her bed again and thought about what had happened. Yukari glanced down at her watch and almost fell to the floor. 'Gee, I was supposed to get home twenty minutes ago. My grandparents will be very upset, so I gotta go. See ya tomorrow at four thirty to get ready for the "big dance"?' 'Yeah, can't wait.' Hitomi smiled for her friend, trying not to show her that anything was wrong.   
Yukari picked up her purse and grabbed her sweater. With one quick wave of her hand, she was gone, leaving Hitomi alone with her very upsetting thoughts. 

The next day, Yukari walked up to Hitomi's house at a quarter after four, to find Hitomi napping on her bed. 'Well?' asked Yukari, shaking Hitomi slightly, 'Up and at 'em!'   
Hitomi shot up. 'Yukari! I wasn't expecting you yet!'   
'Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.'   
'You always say that.'   
'That's 'cause it's the truth.'   
Hitomi got up and started laughing. 'Getting ready is going to be so fun!' Yukari smiled, and put a big bag on Hitomi's dresser. 'And it's time so be prepared!...'   
'Oh no!' Hitomi laughed. 'Knowing you, we'll be here forever!'   
She threw her pillow at her, missing completely. They spent the next hour laughing and carrying on while getting ready. They showed off their dresses and did each other's faces up, at Yukari's request of course.   
'You're so pretty, Hitomi.'   
'Ah Yukari, you know you're prettier.'   
'But you have such darling green eyes. They light up your face.'   
Hitomi blushed. Van had said that once to her but she had been mad at him and had ignored him. She thought it was just him trying to cheer her up and get her to stop being angry with him, but she knew he wasn't like that, so she regretted telling him to "stuff it". Sometimes she missed him so much, her heart ached.   
'Hitomi?'   
Hitomi looked up. 'Yeah?'   
'Nothing. Just thought you didn't hear.'   
Hitomi smiled and let Yukari finish up, and then they switched places. They didn't talk much after that, for both were just starting to get nervous, because now they weren't sure what to expect after the Tarot Card reading the day before. So, in silence they sat, Hitomi finishing up Yukari's make-up. Then the clock struck a quarter to six and they finished up what they were doing. Hitomi wrote a quick note to her mother, to remind her that she had left. Yukari, although pleased with the work Hitomi had done to her face, touched up a bit and put her not-too-fancy earrings in before the two girls headed out for the bus stop.   
Sitting side by side on the bus, trying to look ordinary, but obviously dressed up for a special occasion, Hitomi and Yukari glanced up at each other, returning a very nervous, yet very happy smile. Hitomi now thought her heart would burst with happiness. She just wished the Tarot Card reading would stop nagging at the back of her mind. 


End file.
